Realtime Worlds Ltd. (formerly Rage Games (Scotland) Limited and Real Time Worlds Ltd.) was a British

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based in

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. The studio was formed in February 2000 when Rage Software hired David Jones to lead its Scottish operations. In March 2002, a financially stricken Rage Software sold the studio to Jones, who renamed it Real Time Worlds. After developing '' Crackdown'' (2007) and '' APB: All Points Bulletin'' (2009), Realtime Worlds filed for

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in August 2010.

Foundation

On 7 February 2000, Rage Software announced that it had hired David Jones, the founder of DMA Design, to lead new operations in Scotland for the company. His studio developed the shooter game '' Mobile Forces''. Due to financial issues that arose at Rage Software, the company announced in March 2002 that it would sell the studio to Jones. Jones subsequently renamed the company Real Time Worlds.

Development

On 11 December 2006, New Enterprise Associates announced an investment of US$30 million into Realtime Worlds. Their first release under the name Realtime Worlds was the critically acclaimed 2007 action-adventure third-person sandbox game '' Crackdown'', an

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exclusive title. In 2010, they released a

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for Microsoft Windows, titled '' APB (All Points Bulletin)'', which had been in development for five years, and was hoped to generate upwards of "hundreds of millions of pounds". In 2007, at Develop magazine's Industry Excellence Awards, the company was nominated in a record-breaking seven categories, and took home the awards for ''Innovation'' and ''New UK/European Studio''. Company chairman Ian Hetherington was also crowned ''Development Legend''. At the 2007

British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Video Game Awards ceremony, ''Crackdown'' was nominated in five categories and won two, for ''Action and Adventure'' and ''Use of Audio''. In 2008, ''Crackdown'' was honored as ''Best Debut'' by the GDC's Game Developers Choice awards. On 14 February 2008, it was announced that Realtime Worlds had secured $50M in funding from a consortium led by venture capitalists Maverick Capital and New Enterprise Associates and joined by the WPP Group, a

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-based

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firm. The funds are expected to be used for "continued expansion". On 27 April 2009, Gary Dale left his COO position at

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to become CEO of the company. Dave Jones stepped down as CEO of the company and took on the title of creative director. On 1 May 2010, Realtime Worlds annual accounts revealed a further $21M investment was made in the company in January 2010. This brings the total investment in Realtime Worlds since 2006 to $101M. On 29 June 2010, after five years of development, with lengthy delays, '' APB'' was released to the general public. As of 15 July 2010, ''APB'' had a metacritic score of 58 out of 100. On 7 July 2010, Realtime Worlds announced that it was to restructure its work force to focus more on providing "total support" for ''APB''. On 16 September 2010, Realtime Worlds announced that it would be shutting down ''APBs servers for good.

Administration and closure

On 17 August 2010, six weeks after the release of '' APB'', Realtime Worlds entered

with Begbies Traynor, announcing major layoffs to their Dundee division, and mostly closing their Colorado office. References state that 50 employees would be held to maintain the game ''APB All Points Bulletin'', though it was unclear to what extent. Joint administration was conducted by Paul Dounis and Ken Pattullo of the Begbies Traynor Group. Dounis stated: "Our intention is to continue trading the company while we attempt to find a

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buyer which will safeguard the future of the business." The following day (18 August), Begbies Traynor announced that Realtime Worlds had attracted interest from potential buyers "from both sides of the Atlantic." On 19 August, Begbies Traynor confirmed that a buyer needed to be found for the company as a going concern by the end of September. If that deadline was not achieved,

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was the most likely option for Realtime Worlds. On 16 September 2010, the remainder of the Realtime Worlds staff was laid off with a temporary skeleton crew left in place to close the offices in Dundee and Colorado. On 12 November 2010, bidding on thousands of Realtime Worlds lots ended, with industrial auctioneer Sweeney Kincaid managing the sales and collections. The lots included monitors, computers and games consoles.

Games

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
via

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Video game companies established in 2002 Companies based in Dundee Defunct companies of Scotland Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies 2002 establishments in Scotland Video game companies disestablished in 2010 2010 disestablishments in Scotland